The cargo ship Lake Gilboa was built in 1919 by Detroit Shipbuilding in Wyandotte, Michigan, she was launched on Apr. 24, 1919 and owned by the U.S. Government. In 1923 she was sold to William P. Clyde & Company of New York and renamed Oneida. During World War II she was taken up by the U.S. Army and used as a transport (USAT).

She had crossed the Atlantic over a dozen times in various convoys and made a number of shorter coastal trips in both the U.S. and the U.K. On May 2, 1943 she departed New York bound for Sydney, Australia in convoy NG-359, this convoy operated only as far as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She carried in her hold 800 tons of armor plating, 1,800 tons of aviation castor oil, 48 tons of TNT and 500 tons of foodstuffs, her crew numbered 62 men including a naval armed guard.

On the morning of May the 3rd the convoy ran into heavy weather, throughout the day the seas and winds increased and by 1700 USAT Oneida lost sight of the convoy. She was straggling, fighting the sea and more importantly taking on water. Survivors reported that the pumps had failed and the intake of water could not be checked. The master at some point during the day decided to head for shore and run her aground, however he waited until after dark to change course and head for Norfolk.

By 10 p.m. the engine room was flooded and it seemed clear that they were not going to make land. Thirty minutes later the General Alarm was sounded when an unknown vessel was sighted, she was described as being about the same size as Oneida with no mast and only 200' away. The wheel was put hard over to avoid a collision, but it is not clear if there really was another ship. Shortly before the alarm the survivors reported that they had heard and felt two "dull explosions or thuds aft", it was never determined what the noise was, but post war records do not indicate that the ship was attacked by a U-boat.

By 2:30 a.m. May 4, 1943 the order to abandon ship was given, the men having been at their lifeboat stations since 10 p.m. were quite ready. A distress signal was sent and picked up by a Coast Guard station, the ship's papers were thrown overboard and the men launched a lifeboat and three rafts. Apparently all sixty-one men got off the ship, which went down shortly thereafter. Some survivors later claimed that a light was seen off the port quarter about 200 to 1,000 yards away. The light was focused on the ship raking back and forth, but strangely not bobbing with the water. It was seen just above the water and remained on for less than 2 minutes, then disappeared. It was never determined what this phantom light was.

USS Andres DE-45 arrived in the area late that evening, and at 7:13 p.m. they sighted signal rockets, thirty-one survivors were picked up by 7:50 p.m. and were landed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on May 5. Thirty-one men were unaccounted for, but it is not clear to me if they were lost when the ship went down or were just not found in the water.

As a side note there was another Oneida, built in 1920 by the same company (Detroit Shipbuilding), sunk during the Second World War, she was torpedoed by U-166 on July 13, 1942, these two ships are often confused.